Working with Potter
by mfowl
Summary: James and Lily are now Aurors. James still loves Lily but she still thinks that he is an arrogant prat, but will working with him on special life threatening assignment change her mind about him?


-1**TITLE: Working with Potter**

**Chapter 1 : The Assignment**

Lily lazily pushed through the crowded ministry to get to a meeting that she knew she would be late for no matter what.

She would have rushed but she figured that would just make her all hot and sweaty and it probably would only save her about a minute or less. These ministry workers were rather rude.

After what seemed like the thousand "excuse me" that she said to get down the long hall, she found the door to the meeting room.

But was knocked sideways by someone trying to go into the same door she was.

Lily mumbled some curse words as she gathered up the folders she dropped.

"Sorry, Lily my sweet." said the person who bumped into her.

Lily looked up to see James Potter, smiling down at her.

"Just what I need now." mumbled Lily sarcastically James ignored her comment and held out a hand to help her up.

Lily glared at him and pulled herself up, ignoring James's hand.

"Potter can you move I'm late for a meeting." said Lily because James was blocking the door.

"As am I." said James smiling holding the door open for Lily to pass into.

"Sorry I'm late, said Lily passing through the door as if James wasn't there. And quickly took a seat.

"Yeah sorry," said James "Lily and I kind of got caught up in each other"  
James winked at Lily as he said this, while running his fingers through his hair.

"What...! that's not what happened... James and I ran into each other... and I fell.. I uh"  
Lily stumbled for words her face growing redder with every word.

She finally gave up and glared at James who was laughing at her.

"Well since the both of you were late you'll both be working on the Peterson case." said Mr. Moody the head of the Aurors department.

"Wait!" yelled Lily while James was smiling at her from cloud 9.

"Can't I get another partner? I've been working with Longbottom for the past week and I think we made a good team"

Lily glanced around for him but saw that he was already partnered with Alice.

"Well if you two hadn't been late you could have had an alternative partners," said Moody absently.

"Well now that it's settled." said Moody right when Lily was about to protest again.

He carried on with the rest of the meeting.

Lily left the office in a hurry trying to avoid James for at least for the rest of the day.  
They could start on the case tomorrow when Lily had a chance to cool off.

"Lily!" yelled James following her.

"Lily acted like she couldn't hear him but and started to walk faster.

James picked up his pace as well. They were both weaving in and out of people as fast as they could.

Lily spotted the lift and quickly made her way to it.

She jumped in along with about ten people. The Lift was about to close until a hand stopped it. Lily cursed getting a very scandalized look from an elderly lady standing next to her.

Lily looked at her sheepishly James tried to cram himself into the elevator.

" Ha.. There's no room." yelled Lily from the back of the elevator.

"There is room here," said a man picking up a bag he had on the floor to make room for James.

Lily cursed again. Getting another angry look from the same lady.

After stopping at three floors there were nearing the bottom where Lily could apparate and get away from James.

Luckily, hardly anyone got off the elevator, since most of them were heading home from work, so James couldn't get near her.

There reached the lobby and everyone piled out.

Lily started running not even thinking what other people would think. James followed after her.

"Lily we need to talk about the case"

"Tomorrow." yelled Lily over her shoulder.

She reached the apparating spot. She waved to James in away that said nah nah nah You can't get me.  
And then apparated.

Beep… beep… beep!

Lily groggily reached a hand out form under the covers for her alarm clock, and hit the off button.

BEEP… BEEP… BEEP!

Well she thought it was the off button.

Okay it was definitely not the off button unless the word off meant louder. Which common sense told her it did not mean that. Lily tried hitting another button.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Now, some how Lily managed to make it go louder and faster at the same time.

She didn't think they made buttons for that.

Next time she would definitely need to read the directions instead of discarding them right away along with the box.

Lily silently cursed as she tried to get out form under her nice warm blankets and try to shut it off before it woke up her nosy neighbor Mrs. Staffe who lived across the hall in her apartment building.

But some how Lily managed to tangle herself so much in her sheets as she slept that she wasn't able to disentangle herself from her nice little nest that were her sheets and blankets.

As she struggled she started losing her temper.

Well anyone would lose their temper if they weren't capable of getting out of bed with their alarm clock that was wailing at them that refused to shut off thought Lily in her defense.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.

It was getting louder. How the heck was it getting louder?

"Shut up!" yelled Lily as she still struggled even harder to get out of her bed.

The alarm stopped.

Wow thought Lily I didn't think that was really going to work.

Then it started beeping again louder and faster then ever.

This stupid thing is toying with me. Lily thought angrily.

Lily finally got out of bed well actually she fell out of bed and some how slipped out of all of the covers.

The alarm clock was still going off it was now so loud that Lily held her hands over her ears.

"What do I do, what do I do?" said Lily out loud desperately to herself.

Finally she decided she picked up the alarm clock, and hurled it against the wall.

It worked it stopped beeping and was actually in a couple of pieces.

Lily however eyed it suspiciously for a few seconds before she was sure it wasn't going to start beeping again.

She then picked up the alarm clock from Hell and through it in the garbage.

Then there was a knock on her door. Lily flinched from the sound since it was the first noise since the beeping stopped.

"Who is it?" called Lily timidly. Thinking it was her neighbor to yell at her for waking her up.

"It's James" came the muffled response.

Oh no! Thought Lily first it was the alarm clock from hell now it's the boy from hell.

Lily froze where she stood in her kitchen in front of the garbage can.

What is he doing here and this early in the morning.

I normally wouldn't even be out of bed yet. She glared down at her alarm clock as she said this.

"Lily?" called James through the door.

I'll pretend I'm not here thought Lily smugly.

"Lily I know your there."

Lily jumped startled and looked around her apartment thinking he could see her.

It was as if he was reading her mind. Oh no! thought Lily maybe he is!

"Lily I heard you ask who was here a few seconds ago so don't pretend your not there." said James through the door. He sounded amused.

Duh! Thought Lily the word sounded loudly in her mind.

"Lily come on we really need to work on this case _together_"

Lily shivered as he said the word _together. _Then remembered the case.

"Ugh" said Lily

"I heard that" said James

Lily glared at him through the door.

If he heard me say ugh he could probably feel the cancer causing ray of hate Lily was throwing at him.

"Come back in an hour" yelled Lily through the door.

"I'll wait right here" said James

"No way!" yelled Lily thinking of what the neighbors would say about a boy standing outside Lily's door for an hour. Especially Mrs. Staffe.

"Than let me in" said James

"No way!" said Lily again mortified glancing around her messy apartment. And just thinking of James in her apartment while she was getting dressed made her shiver uncomfortably.

"Than hurry up" said James.

"Never mind about the hour thing come back tomorrow." said Lily

"Lily we seriously need to work on this case. It's your duty as an Auror. Seeing me is just an added bonus to your job."

Lily could feel his smile through the door

"You know what I changed my mind I don't want to be an Auror anymore. So you can just _go _tell Moody of my resignation."

"Lily if you don't open this door on the count of three I'm going to break it down."

"Your bluffing" called Lily through the door. While silently cursing at why she didn't put spells on the door to prevent someone from ramming into it.

"0ne…" called James

He's just kidding thought Lily he's just trying to get you to open the door.

"two…"

Stay strong Lily stay strong

"Thr-"

Oh no! he's not kidding!

Lily quickly opened the door to find him leaning against the wall across the hall smirking.

"You tricked me!" yelled Lily

She quickly tried to close the door again but his arm stopped her. She continued to push but it was to no use.

He was definitely stronger than her. And in a few short seconds he came stumbling into her apartment.

"Nice hair" said James. Lily glared at him while trying to sooth her hair down.

"Like yours looks any better" said Lily staring at his messy black hair.

James just shrugged and took a seat on her rather lumpy couch.

Lily continued to glower at him.

"Aren't you going to get dressed. I mean don't let me stop you if you want to wear your pajamas out in public, cause you look good in just about everything."

James said this in a rather bored tone as if he was stating a fact of life.

Lily looked down at herself. She forgot she was still in her pajamas. Which was a stupid thing to forget since she had just got out… well, fell out of bed.

Lily walked swiftly passed James on the couch, then picked up a pillow and swung it at James's head.

"Don't touch anything!" said Lily as she walked into her bedroom and slammed the door.

James looked around Lily's apartment. It was a little messy but not unbearable, James knew the late hours that Lily worked and new that it didn't leave much time for her to be in her house let alone long enough to clean it.

Every Auror in the department worked long late hours since the up rise of Lord Voldemort.

Lily especially worked long hours but that was no surprise given how she behaved during their Hogwart's years.

You don't become Head Girl by neglecting you studies.

James stood up off Lily's sofa, which was really uncomfortable and lumpy. He walked across to the small apartment to the window. He looked down and was surprised to see many Muggles standing below, most of them were wearing their pajamas and slippers, some without slippers.

One guy was wearing nothing except boxer shorts while holding a plate with eggs and bacon on it.

James stared at the Muggles for a while thinking back to his Muggle studies, trying to figure out if this was some strange ritual.

The next thing he knew a fire engine pulled up.

"Lily?" called James.

"What?" she asked through her bedroom door. James could hear the exasperation in her voice, but chose to ignore it.

"Why are the Muggles from your building standing outside in the street wearing their pajamas?"

"What?" Lily came out of her room pulling her hair into a pony tail. This time she was dressed for the day.

"There's also a Fire Engine out there."

Lily walked up next to James and stared down the window. James wasn't kidding.

"What the heck is going on?" Lily asked.

"You mean this isn't a usual thing?" asked James.

Lily gave him a look that said all he needed to know that it wasn't a usual thing.

Lily opened the window trying to hear what was going on.

"I'm sorry Mam," a fireman was saying. "We weren't notified by an alarm someone called 911."

"But an alarm did go off," an elderly lady was saying. "and I wasn't the only one who heard it. Ask anyone here we all heard it."

"I'm sorry Mam someone must have been playing a joke. But we will have to check that the building is indeed safe first, so we will need you all to wait outside just a little longer." said the fireman. "But first does anyone know if someone is still inside? We need the building clear before we can move in."

"Lily Evans is missing." called a voice that Lily knew all too well. Of course Mrs. Staffe would be the only one to notice she was missing. Lily didn't know anyone else that well from her building.

Mrs. Staffe only knew her because interfering with other peoples' business was some horrible gift she probably had since she was born. The gift of a nosey body.

Lily always thought that she was the original person to establish the greatly unliked neighborhood watch.

"Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" asked Lily her tone was definitely accusatory.

James looked at her terrified. She could be really scary when she was angry.

"I.. I didn't come through that way I apparated onto the roof." stammered James. he was ready to duck if a hand suddenly flew to his face. redheads sure had horrible tempers.

"The roof!" gasped Lily "I didn't know I could do that I always went outside to a secluded corner, alley, or a ladies room to apparate."

Lily ran to the door.

"Hurry up they will probably be knocking on my door any minute."

James just stood there.

"Why-" he asked but was cut off as Lily grabbed his hand hardand ran out the door dragging him.

James just managed to grab the file that held the information about the case they were working on.

After about two flights of stairs they were finally on the roof. Lily was gasping for breath. Way way to early to do that she thought.

"Lily I think there is something you aren't telling me." said James he was breathing heavily too, but not as much.

"Its actually a really funny story. That I think I should save until Christmas time."

"Lily" said James making her feel like she was back in school about to be lectured by a teacher, not that that happened often.

Actually it only happened when she got caught up in one of Jame's wild schemes.

"The café on Witter Blvd." said Lily then dissaparated before he could object.

Ten minutes later Lily sat across from James at a small table in the back of the café, a warm cup of tea in front of her. She was scowling at him as he continued to laugh.

She had just told him the story of her evil alarm clock which she now regretted that she told him more than anything else in her life.

James finally managed to compose himself after Lily hit him on the head repeatedly with the case file.

"Okay okay." said James trying to shield himself from Lily's wrath.

"Are you ready to see what we'll be working on for the next two months together." asked James he had this extremely mock serious face on as he said this.

Lily glared at him obviously not liking the whole 'brace yourself' speech beforehand.

James slowly began to open it.

Lily all ready fed up with him from more times then she wished to count this morning, snatched it out of his hands opening it for herself.

She gasped in shock.

For once James was right. She really should have braced herself.

"I. Am. Not. Doing. That!" said Lily in disgust.

"Come on Lily it can't be that bad." James took the folder out of Lily's rather limp hand.

James looked at the file for a moment he had a bewildered expression on his face, and then suddenly yelled "Yes!" really loud causing people to stare. Lily quickly pulled him back down to Earth. Lily often came here for lunch and would like to continue doing that without any embarrassing labels. Such as the girl with the crazy man.

"You do know how dangerous this will be?" asked Lily seriously.

James over looked the file again. "Well yes but we have been trained for field work such as this, and Moody knows were probably two of the best Aurors in the ministry." James winked at her and added, "I don't think Moody gave this case to us just because we were late. I mean this is a dangerous operation, and I don't think Moody would hand out a case like this to just anyone."

Lily had to agree this was a serious case and although they were going to be the ones in the field there would probably be more behind this.

Lily looked at James who smiled a little bemused looking over the small part of the case that made Lily cringe. For once in her life Lily wished that she didn't excel at something. because then she wouldn't be stuck in this situation.

James and Lily spent half an hour looking over the case and discussing what they were going to do. When the door to the cafe opened sounding the small bell hanging on the handle of the door. Lily looked up just out of reflex. But then looked down quickly blushing slightly with a small smile on her lips.

James looked up at Lily obviously not at all distracted by the sound of the door opening. "If we leave there at one it shou..." James trailed off looking at Lily who wasn't paying attention to him at all. "Lily?" asked James waving a hand in front of her face.

Lily snapped out of her little reverie looking at James he cheeks were still flushed slightly. "Sorry what did you say?" asked Lily she stole another glance at the person who walked in the door.

James followed her gaze that landed on a tall light brown hair man probably around Lily and James age he was looking at Lily who smiled at him.

James felt all of his blood leave his face he was probably as white as the Bloody Barren. Jealously began to take hold of him. Why wouldn't Lily look at _him_ that way.

"Do you know that guy?" asked James trying to sound nonchalant. It took all of his will power to not go over there and beat the studding out of the guy whether Lily knew him or not.

Lily nodded and mumbled something that sound like "I'll be right back and took off toward the stranger.

Lily tried to keep the smile down on her face and not look like she was swooning at the sight of him. Lily had known Jack for years. She used to be friends with him before she went to Hogwarts and would occasionally see him during her summer break. Jack was obviously a Muggle and one of the reasons Lily came here. Jack came here almost as often as Lily so she would see him at least twice a week. Lily didn't used to be nervous around Jack until last week when Lily had sworn he was about to ask her out on a date. But Lily was late for work and Jack sort of lost his nerve in all the rush.

"Hi" said Lily in a way she hoped was casual.

"Hey" he answered back. "I don't usually see you in here on weekends" commented Lily.

"That's because you don't wake up until about noon." said Jack grinning at Lily.

"Hey!" yelled Lily punching his arm playfully. "I do not wake up at noon. That is far to early."

"Your right what was I thinking" said Jack with a serious face that, was ruined when he couldn't hold his grin in anymore, he started laughing and Lily joined in.

Meanwhile James was staring at the two of them laughing. All the blood that left his face earlier was boil out of the top of his head. How could this... this Muggle make her laugh when James could only get a sneer out of her. She was supposed to be working on this bloody case with him. Not fooling around with this horrible Muggle. James has been waiting for years for an opportunity like this to have with Lily, and it was not going to be ruined because this guy had to walk into this particular cafe at this certain time. James would show him that Lily was with him today.

"Who is that guy you're with?" asked Jack looking at James who was glaring at him.

"What?" asked Lily completely forgetting about James. "Oh him? He's just a someone who I work with." said Lily dismissible.

"And have drinks with?" asked Jack sneakily.

"No! I'm working" said Lily quickly knowing what Jack was thinking. "luckily for me Saturdays off is something in the past." Lily rolled her eyes although she loved her work. She just wished she had more time for other things. Like dates with handsome men named Jack. Not extra time spent with Potter.

Lily glanced over at Potter who was throwing scathing looks at Jack. Maybe she ought to cut this thing short.

"I should probably get back before my partner decides to tell my boss that I was slacking off."

"Oh okay." said Jack Lily thought that he looked like he was going to say something else.

Lily went to turn when Jack suddenly blurted out, "Does your boss at least give you Sundays off?" he asked his face growing red. "Usually." said Lily looking hopeful at Jack.

"Well I was wondering if maybe you would like to go out with me tomorrow?" he said this really fast that Lily almost missed what he said.

"That would be nice." said Lily throwing him one of her best smiles.

"How about a movie say around seven?"

"Seven it is." said she quickly stood on her tip toes and planted a small kiss on his cheek.

"See you there." said Lily and walked back to James.

Lily was to busy thinking about her new found date to notice a certain James Potter who was seething, while staring at her love struck face that which was not because of him.

"So," said James trying to be as casual and calm as possible. "Do you know him?" James pointed to Jack just bought a cup of coffee and was heading toward the door.

"Yeah." said Lily he's been my friend for a while.

"friend?" asked James. He never saw her kiss any of her other male friends on the cheek or blush when they were talking to her.

"Um… yes." replied Lily. She didn't really feel like expressing her love life or any of her life toward James Potter.

Lily wondered why he had to ask her out on the day that she had Potter with her. If he wasn't here she would still be talking to Jack. But then a voice in the back of her head said, if James wasn't here you wouldn't have been up this early in the morning anyway.

"It didn't look like you to were just friends." said James annoyed, first Lily flirts with a guy right in front of him. Now she was lying to him.

Lily blushed lightly as he said this, confirming that they were more than friends.

"Look can we just get back to work please I would at least like some time off today. Okay?" said Lily looking down at the folder in front of them trying to concentrate.

Lily and James discussed the case through breakfast. The waitress started bugging them with the check or ordering lunch which they ignored.

Well it seemed like they were discussing the case. Lily kept thinking Jack and what she was going to wear for it. She could get Alice to help. However it was a Muggle date so Lily would be wearing Muggle clothes and Alice didn't know much about Muggle fashion.

James was also thinking about Jack but for another reason. He was thinking about how many ways he break something of his like an arm or a leg without using magic. James was also thinking about putting a memory charm on him from the day he first met Lily. So she would be erased completely from his life, but James know that Lily would suspect him of doing that and that would make matters with him and Lily much worse.

Lily glanced up at James who was sitting there punching his fist into his palm while staring at some known existing object that he was pretending to hit.

James looked up from the table coming out of his reverie. He saw Lily looking at him like he was crazy. James smiled at her sheepishly.

Lily looked around the café and noticed the waitress glaring a them from over the front counter.

James followed her gaze and noticed the annoyed waitress too.

"Maybe we should order some lunch." said James.

Lily sighed they were getting nowhere with this case and ordering lunch would solve nothing except contempt the annoyed waitress, and result in spending more time with Potter for no reason.

"Why don't we pick this up on another day." said Lily "Were obviously getting no where."

James agreed though he wouldn't mind ordering lunch with Lily and they could just talk none work relating subjects. Though he knew Lily wouldn't stand for it.

So he nodded and he and Lily picked up their paper work and headed out the door.

"How about we continue this tomorrow night?" asked James.

"Um … how about Monday.?" asked Lily. "After work."

"Won't you be tired after work?" asked James "and I Think Moody would like it if we actually did some work relating to this case."

Lily knew James was right. Moody would probably want to question us about the case and lily would like something to show for it since four hours with potter wasn't long enough to actually get any work done.

"I can't tomorrow." said Lily "I'm uh… busy."

"Well can't you put it off for another time. This is really important." James waved the case around as to prove his point.

"Umm…" said Lily blushing slightly.

James realized all to quickly why Lily busy on Sunday night.

"You have a date with him don't you? " James pointed in the café where Jack was standing earlier.

Lily nodded reluctantly.

"Wow" said James jealously started to rise again. "I didn't know you were this shallow. Putting off something as important as this for mere date!"

"Hey!" yelled Lily "That's not fair. If you were any help today we wouldn't have to meet again to begin with!"

"I wasn't any help?" asked James incredulously "I wasn't the one who kept daydreaming about my date, while ignoring anything else!"

James and Lily stood there just glaring at each other for a long time.

Lily felt like she was back in her fifth year at Hogwarts, fighting with James like this.

"We are both adults aren't we?" asked Lily stopping her glare. "And were behaving like kids." James looked at her feeling his anger start to subside.

"Now I am sorry but I can't work on Sunday." Lily put her finger in the air seeing that James was about to say something. "But how about we meet at the ministry early on Monday before work begins and discuss the case there?"

James continued to frown but reluctantly nodded.

"Good." said Lily "Then I'll see you there bright and early." with that she turned and preceded toward her apartment that was only a block away from her house.

James watched Lily walk away. A fire truck going past her with tired looking fire officials.

Lily woke up late on Sunday due to her lack of an alarm clock that was still in her garbage in four separate pieces. She smiled at the thought of her date with Jack later that night. But with that thought it reminded her of her fight with James, and how miserable he looked when she told him that she was going out with Jack. She didn't mean to make James jealous and upset. She hadn't planned on seeing Jack, or of him asking her out. Him doing it in front of James was probably the worst time he could have asked her.

Lily jumped in the shower, after getting out of bed successfully this morning, minus the late start but Lily still had plenty of time before she was to meet Alice Standin for a day of shopping. Lily was planning on picking out something new for her to wear on her date. Alice was a pureblood and didn't know much about Muggle attire.

But Alice was up for any kind of shopping. She also mentioned that she wanted to tell Lily something important.

Lily got out of the shower and started getting dressed. She put on a casual Muggle outfit, Jeans and a t-shirt. Threw her hair in a ponytail and walked out the door.  
She was locking her door to her apartment when a voice startled her.

"Hello Lily, nice quiet morning were having isn't it?" asked Mrs. Staffe who poked her head out of the door. Probably when she heard Lily open hers.

"Yes it is." said Lily ignoring her quiet comment.

When Lily came home after her meeting with James She found that the fire bergaed had just left. And some of her fellow tenets were still standing outside, Mrs. Staffe among them.

She approached Lily who was pretending that she had no idea what was going on. And told he that she didn't hear her leave that morning and said that she could have sworn that the fake alarm was coming from her room. Lily said that she had no idea what she was talking about and said that she had been out since very early that morning for work. Lily then quickly left her and went inside.

Leaving Mrs. Staffe still suspicious. Leave it to her to catch her on a Muggle thing but hasn't realized that she is a witch who can do magic. which she uses daily.

"Well I'll see you later." said Lily to Mrs. Staffe and took down the hallway as fast as she could before Mrs. Staffe could object.

Lily silently cursed she was hoping that she could just run up to the roof and apparate there to Alice's house instead of going outside and down the street.

That reminded Lily of James and how sad he looked yesterday. Lily mentally shook herself thinking that what she really needed to do was get the floo line hooked up in her apartment. That would make some things much easier.

Lily neared an empty ally and quickly apparated trying to leave the thoughts of James behind.

"Sirius!" yelled James using his head as a way to knock on Sirius's front door.

James felt horrible he had hardly gotten any sleep last night. Because all her could think about was Lily. Lily and her stupid date.

"Sirius" yelled James again.

The door suddenly opened to reveal a very tired and irritated Sirius. "what do you want?" was the curt reply. "I was sleeping."

"Well sorry for thinking that you would have been up already, given that it's the afternoon."  
Said James showing Sirius his watch. Which he squinted at as if it were too bright. "I need your help."  
Sirius suddenly looked more awake.

"You need my help?" he asked bewildered.  
James nodded to Sirius who was still blocking the front door.  
"Are you going to let your best friend in or make him stand outside all day." asked James.

Sirius promptly moved and beckoned James in.

"So what do you need help with?" asked Sirius watching James plop down on his couch in a defeated looking way.

"Oh this is a Lily problem is it?" said Sirius who knew that look he saw it almost everyday since they were fifteen.

James grunted

"She has a date with someone else tonight," mumbled James. "and she blew me off because of it. We were supposed to be working on the case today."

"Lily blew off her work for a date. Wow she must really like this guy." said Sirius.  
James glared at him.

"Oh sorry." said Sirius. If Looks could kill Sirius would definitely be six feet under right now.

"James you know this isn't Hogwarts anymore. Lily is allowed to date other guys and you aren't allowed to hex them. Because you'll get more than just a detention."

"I know were not in Hogwarts anymore." said James glaring at Sirius again. "So why won't Lily go out with me.

I'm not as big headed as I once was."  
Sirius tried to hold in his snort at James words.

"Plus I really can't hex him because he's a Muggle."

"Lily chose a Muggle over you?" asked Sirius howling with laughter.  
James threw a pillow at him.

"I knew I should have went to Remus about this." said James.

"Hey! I resent that." said Sirius recovering from his laughter "You always go to me about your Lily problems."

"Hey, maybe that explains why she still won't go out with me." said James as if the thought just hit him.

"Don't count on that." said Sirius it was now his turn to glare.

James and Sirius were both quiet for a minute each in there own thoughts.

"So what should I do about this if I can't kill him or hex him?" asked James after a while.

Sirius thought for a minute then slowly his face broke out into a smile.

"Do you know what time or where Lily is going out with this guy?" asked Sirius.

"I think she's going out with him seven because she told me that that was the time she couldn't work with me. I don't know where they are going." said James.

"Well as long as we have a set time it should still work. Said Sirius.

"What will work?" asked James knowing that Sirius might have a good plan.

"It's time for some good old fashioned sabotage." said Sirius. "Magic free of course"

"You caught my attention" said James sitting up and looking hopeful. "What's the plan?"

Lily stood in the Muggle clothing store admiring a small blue dress while waiting for her friend to show up.

Lily was about to go try it on when Alice came running down the isle of clothing towards her.

"Lily!" she said excitedly gasping for breath. "sorry I'm late but the greatest thing in the world has happened to me!" she squealed.

"What!" yelled Lily excitedly. She knew Alice didn't get all worked up over just anything.  
Frank Longbottom asked me to marry him!" she yelled showing Lily her left hand which held a huge diamond ring.

"Oh my Merlin!" yelled Lily admiring the ring. "I'm so happy for you!" She engulfed Alice in a huge hug. "But you don't think this is a little soon?" asked Lily in a friendly concerned way. Alice had only been dating frank for a couple of months.

"Well at first I thought so. But he just makes me feel so happy and I know I could never love anyone the way I love him." said Alice making Lily's heart ache toward her friend's happiness at finding someone who could make her feel so elated and complete in this way.

"I'm so glad that you found someone like him for you. I know you'll be happy together." Lily hugged her again.

"Yeah I know." said Alice admiring her ring. "So anyway beck to shopping. I am going to a Muggle restaurant with Frank and his parents , since his dad is a Muggle. So I'll be needing something to wear too."

Lily and Alice starting scanning the isles picking up anything and everything they liked.

"Okay, Lily spill, why do you all of the sudden in the need for some new Muggle clothing?" Asked Alice talking through the dressing room wall to her.

"I have a date." said Lily happily.

"Oh, with James?" asked Alice.

"What!" yelled Lily "Why do you think I would ever go on a date with James? Or need Muggle clothing for that date anyway?"

"Well I don't know. I mean James has liked you ever since Hogwarts. And I thought now with you two working together that maybe you might have said yes to him finally." said Alice regretting that she mentioned James at all.

"Yeah thanks by the way for stealing my partner." said Lily.

"Oh yeah sorry that I wanted to work with my fiancé." said Alice joking.

"Fine I'll let you slide this time." said Lily with mock seriousness.

"So then who do you have a date with?"

"Jack Andin. I probably mentioned him to you before."

"Oh! Your going on a date with him! " squealed Alice. "Isn't he a Muggle?"

"Well yeah hence the Muggle clothing." said Lily.

"Where are you going?" asked Alice walking with Lily the check out line both happy at finding the perfect dress for both of their occasions.

"To a movie. He's picking me up at seven."

"Does he know that you're a you know what yet?" asked Alice. Paying for her dress she was just about to hand the lady some Galleons but a small nudge from Lily made her pull out some bills instead.

"No not yet but it's only our first date."

"But I thought you said he has been your friend for years?" asked Alice skeptically.

"He has, but it never came up, and it would be really awkward and everything."

Well I think it will be more awkward the longer you wait. You don't wan to be one of those witches that marries a guy and then decides to tell him years later?" asked Alice.

"Of course not! said Lily. "Who said anything about marriage anyway? Its only our first date and I don't think I'm going to freak him out now."

"Well…" said Alice unheedingly. "You could always date a wizard such as James Potter then you could avoid all awkwardness."

"Alice!" yelled Lily "Why do you want me to date James so much. You despised him just as much as me in Hogwarts."

"Well this isn't Hogwarts anymore, James has grown up quite a bit. And he still is in love with you." said Alice flinching expecting a blowout from Lily.

"You know what? I am not getting in to this right now. And I still need shoes to go with my dress as do you. And I will help you pick them out if you promise not to Say anything else about James Bloody Potter!"

"Fine." said Alice defeated and walked after Lily in the direction of the shoe store.

**A/N I decided to pull my story and put it back up with all of the chapters being one instead so I could have a fresh start at this story.**


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